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Clarke Professor of English Selected to Judge Standard-Setting Project

By Clarke News  |  October 22, 2020

Clarke University Professor of English & Society, Culture and Discourse Department Chair Ann Pelelo has been chosen to participate in a College-Level Examination Program (CLEP) Web-Based Standard Setting Study. The study will focus on the CLEP College Composition with Essay exam.

The College Composition with Essay examination assesses writing skills taught in most first-year college composition courses. Questions on the exam require test takers to demonstrate knowledge of analysis, argumentation, synthesis, usage, ability to recognize logical development, and research. Test-takers will also be required to apply knowledge, general concepts, and principles to specific problems.

The purpose of the web-based standard setting is to re-evaluate the recommended credit-granting scores for CLEP exams. In the web-based standard setting study, a panel of experts evaluates the difficulty of each question in a test and determines how an average student in a comparable college course would perform on each question (for a more in-depth explanation of the process, please refer to the Standard Setting portion of the College Board Web site). The panel of experts for each study consists of approximately 20 university and college faculty members from across the country. The study lasts for a period of approximately one month. It is estimated that a panelist would be working online for an average of 15–20 hours during this period, and most of the work can be done at your convenience within a designated timeframe.

In addition to CLEP, Pelelo has been asked to write for the 2020 AP Composition and Language Exam. Her previous AP work includes serving as an exam writer in 2018 & 2019.

“My work with CLEP and AP invigorates me,” said Pelelo. “In addition, I learn a great deal about what is going on nationally with the assessment of writing via these experiences. This knowledge enhances the teaching and assessing of writing that I do at Clarke.”

The study is scheduled to begin on Monday, October 19 and end on Thursday, November 19. To be eligible to participate in the study, you must be currently teaching or have recently taught a college-level College Composition course. Pelelo has previously been involved in CLEP on several occasions: She has served as a Standard Setting Study Judge in 2014, 2015, 2016, & 2019 and a Writer of Exam Questions in 2018, 2019, & 2020. Pelelo also was one of four board members of the CLEP Test Development Committee for College Composition from 2015-2019.